Clatter
by JilyEvotter19
Summary: Lily has always been rather prone to dropping her fork with a clatter whenever she hears a piece of news, be it mild or outrageous.
1. A Wrinkly, Witchy Woman

The ringing of the doorbell echoed all around the Evans household. All four occupants were in the middle of lunch.

"Petunia darling, will you go and see who it is?" Mrs Evans asked.

Petunia hopped off her chair and went to look. Two minutes later, she came back with an astonished expression on her face. "It's a lady with a black hat on her head - just like a witch, Mummy! - and a few wrinkles and she says she has to see you and Daddy and Lily."

A witchy woman? Come to see Lily?

The redheaded eleven-year-old in question dropped her fork with a clatter.


	2. Secret Admirer

Black slipped on the wooden bench opposite Lily.

"'Lo, Evans," he said brightly. "How're you doing?"

At the age of eleven, Lily had yet to learn that any conversation with Sirius Black more often than not resulted in trouble, humiliation, annoyance or chaos, even though he (and Potter) had succeeded in annoying her a fair few times.

"I'm all right, thanks. How're you?"

"I'm feeling a bit irritated with your secret admirer at the moment. That is, Prongs."

"Prongs?"

"James, I mean. He has quite a thing for you, you see. Doesn't bug you for nothing, y'know. Says it's fun doing it because then you acknowledge him by telling him off."

"Potter? My - my secret _admirer_?" she managed to squeak.

Black nodded cheerfully.

Lily dropped her fork with a clatter.


	3. A Date Proposal (Unsuccessful)

"Hey, Lily," Marlene began, "read this! James told me to give it to you!"

Lily looked at the piece of parchment in Marlene's hands.

"Go on, read it quickly. I'm dying of suspense."

Cautiously, Lily took the parchment from Marlene (she had every right to be so, because what if it was a repeat of last time, when Potter thought it was a good idea to profess his love for Lily by sending a Howler about it in the Great Hall?) and opened it.

_Dear Lily-kins,_

_Please, oh please, go out with me,_

_Your darling James Potter, y__ours for eternity._

Lily saw red, but not before she dropped her fork with a clatter.


	4. Gay

Lily was just pondering over how it had been a long, long time since she had dropped her fork over any news when she saw Potter approaching.

He plopped down on the bench next to her.

"I have something to tell you."

Lily looked at him as if he was something dirty on the back of her shoe.

"What is it, Potter?" she snapped.

"Uh, you won't like this, but - er - you know, um, Robert, your - _boyfriend_ ..." Potter sat that word as if it was burning his tongue. It _was_ burning his heart, you may be sure of that.

"What about him?" Lily asked slowly, scrutinising his face, as if looking for any hints of mischief. On the contrary, she found that he actually looked acutely uncomfortable.

"He - well, he's, uh, he's ... gay. I just found out."

Lily dropped her fork with a clatter.

* * *

**Author's Note:** This is a sort of companion piece to my story _Women_. Oh, and by the way, I have nothing against gays.


	5. Unexplained Feelings

Philippa Nelson, a well-known gossip, giggled. "Have you heard?"

"Heard what?" Lily asked.

"James is going out with somebody."

Lily had never liked Philippa. Now, however, she absolutely loathed her. She had no idea why, though.

"Really? Who's Potter managed to catch, then?" she said, her tone casual, but rather choked, for reasons unknown to herself.

"Me," announced Philippa, giggling madly and blushing.

Lily dropped her fork with a clatter.


	6. Crush

Alice grinned. "Lily, we know about your crush."

"My crush? On whom? I don't have a crush. What are you both talking about?" Lily said, far too hurriedly for her own good.

"Oooh, don't think we don't know, darling," Marlene smirked.

"I have absolutely no idea who you're talking about," Lily said flatly.

"Really?" Alice said, her eyes twinkling.

"Really?" Marlene echoed, her expression mischievous. "Oh, c'mon, Lils, it's pretty obvious that you fancy none other than our own beloved James. I've seen you staring at him, and remember that time he was coming back from the Quidditch pitch, Alice? Lily practically ..."

Marlene never got to say what Lily practically did, for she was interrupted by the unfortunate lass herself, who dropped her fork with a clatter, and in doing so attracted lots of stares from passers-by.


	7. Have You Heard?

"Have you heard?" Alice exclaimed, sitting next to Lily.

Recalling the last time somebody had asked her that question, Lily groaned. "Heard what?"

Alice stared at her in confusion. "You OK?" When Lily shook her head, she continued,

"James broke up with that slut Nelson."

Lily gasped. "_Really?_ Why?"

"Well, according to Emily Finnigan, he told her that he wasn't thinking when he asked her out. He said - oh, this sounds so cheesy - that you're the only one for him. And it's a good thing you both are friends now, what will all the co-Headship and all."

But Lily wasn't listening; she had dropped her fork with a clatter.


	8. A Date Proposal (Successful)

"Hey, Lily, I was wondering whether I could have a word with you outside?"

Lily's heart sped up, as was the routine whenever she caught sight of that messy hair and those hazel eyes. "Yeah, sure, James." She got up and went out of the Great Hall with him, unconscious of the fact that she had brought her fork with a piece of chicken hanging off it along with her.

James led her outside into the Quidditch pitch.

"Why're you bringing me here?" she asked, bemused.

"Lily," James began, launching into a blathering tirade, "if you're going to say no, I won't mind, we can continue being friends - but what I mean to ask you is, will you go to Hogsmeade with me?"

Lily dropped her fork. It fell onto the dusty ground. For once, it didn't clatter, which was why Lily never realised she had dropped it, which led to that fork lying, abandoned, on the pitch until next morning, when a student took pity on it and Vanished the mud-covered object.

Taking her speechlessness as a negative response, James hastily tried to patch up his mistake. "I mean, it's completely all right if you don't want to, I understand, I just -"

But he went no further, because Lily interrupted his mindless babbling by throwing her arms around him and kissing him.


	9. Dark Circles And Invitations

"So, you and James, huh?" Marlene smirked.

"Shut up, you," answered Lily playfully, flinging a stray bit of fried egg at her.

"What, you're still embarrassed after six dates and a thousand snogging sessions?"

Lily was saved from answering by the arrival of the Marauders. Sirius proceeded to hug Lily for no reason (they saw each other every day, after all), a hug that Lily returned. She smiled at Peter and said hello. For James, she reserved a good morning kiss.

And Lily's response to the sight of Remus was a gaping expression.

"You look terrible!"

"Thanks, Lily," Remus said, chuckling. Lily stared at the dark circles beneath his eyes.

"No, seriously. Even I'm not slaving over those NEWTs as much as you are. You know what you need? A holiday," Lily finished.

Remus laughed.

"I'm not kidding! Sirius could take you on a trip to Honeydukes under the Invisibility Cloak through one of your trusty passages out of school."

"Lily." James stared at her. "I believe we are influencing you very strongly. And not for good, either."

Lily grinned.

She was in the middle of her peas when James cleared his throat.

"Lily?"

"Hmm?"

"How would you like to come with me to visit my parents in the holidays? They've heard a lot about you, naturally, and they thought it would be brilliant if you came over - they told me they wanted to see you. I don't know why, but Mum and Dad exchanged this secret glance when they were telling me about inviting you ..."

Lily, understanding the implications of the invitation, dropped her fork with a clatter.


	10. A Moonlight Proposal And Tears

Lily walked around Sirius's apartment, trying to mask her anxiety in waiting for James. He was supposed to meet her here.

She passed by the calendar hung up on the wall, next to Sirius's prized possessions: an old Beater's Bat which Dumbledore had deemed faulty enough to give to Sirius, the packet of chewing gum he had been chewing when he had first met James so many years ago on the Hogwarts Express, a small roll of parchment upon which he and the rest of the Marauders had scribbled notes, thereby chasing away their boredom in several History of Magic classes ... There were lots more things Lily didn't recognise, too.

She sighed.

"Don't worry, Lily," said Sirius soothingly, from his perch on the sofa. "Prongs'll be back soon. You'll see."

Lily smiled at Sirius, whom she had begun to regard as a brother since two years or so, and nodded.

She gazed at the calendar. _August, 1979_, it read. Lily reminisced as she looked at it, recalling so many happy memories of the past, things that had happened in August - finding out she was a witch, meeting Severus (Lily felt a pang of hurt as she thought of him, and how he had gone over to the Dark side), Petunia getting engaged, Petunia getting married exactly a year later ...

"Sirius! Lily!"

The redhead spun around.

"James! You're back!" she exclaimed joyfully, running to him. She hugged him and planted a kiss on his lips. "I was so worried! You're late ..."

"Yes, it was a particularly tough Auror mission," James told her, "but worth it in the end."

"You caught them, then?"

James nodded, smiling.

"My hello's insignificant," Sirius grumbled. "You two lovebirds catch up with each other." Lily glared at him in mock exasperation. He stood up and stretched. Coming over to Lily and James, he hugged the two of them and went upstairs, pausing on the last step and saying,

"Oi, Prongs? I'm glad you're back."

James grinned at his best mate.

When Sirius had disappeared into his room, Lily and James shared a few minutes of simply gazing at each other's faces in the moonlight that streamed through the windows.

"I'll make you some tea," Lily said presently.

"Wait, how about hot chocolate instead of tea?"

Lily smiled. "All right. Hot chocolate it is."

Some time later, they were sitting on a small table, sipping their mugs of hot chocolate.

"Lily," James said in a low voice. He thrust his hands in his pockets and produced a small box. Lily's heart beat twice its normal rate at the sight of it; she knew what it was. "I have to ask you something."

Lily gazed at him. She said nothing, but her eyes spoke of the hope and love in her heart.

"Lily, I know we're a bit young, only nineteen, but with this war going on, I reckon it doesn't matter ... Wil you marry me?"

This time, Lily dropped the spoon she had been using to stir her hot chocolate. It fell with such an immense clatter that upstairs, Sirius worried over whether some Death Eaters had broken into the house.

"Yes! Oh, _yes!_"

The rest of Lily's answer was in actions, not words: for when Sirius came down the stairs a few moments later to investigate the noise, he found such an endearingly familiar scene that he retired upstairs, smiling to himself. Lily and James's loving embrace was not the only thing the moon glimpsed that day: its light also illuminated a tear that had made its path down Sirius's cheek, as he contemplated on how lucky he was to have such people as his best friends and pondered over how much in danger they all were in this war.


	11. Peril

"You have a lovely house," Dumbledore remarked, surveying the walls covered with photographs over his half-moon glasses and smiling.

Lily beamed.

"It would have been appropriate if I had come here with happy tidings. However," the old man continued, "I am sorry to say I have brought bad news. Extremely bad news."

Lily looked at him fearfully; James held her hand beneath the table. "What is it, Headmaster?"

"You both are in danger. Grave danger."

The words were hardly out of his mouth when Lily - overcome by a cold surge of terror - dropped her fork with a clatter.


End file.
